Super Short Summary - Murder in the Cathedral

 Murder in the Cathedral - T.S. Eliot

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        T. S. Eliot's verse drama Murder in the Cathedral, first performed in 1935, depicts Archbishop Thomas Becket's assassination in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. The play is divided into three parts: Part 1, Interlude and Part 2. 

       In Part 1, at the outset, The chorus expresses fear and misery. Thomas Becket has been exiled for seven years, and people feel doom. Three priests wonder if Becket made peace with the king. Becket follows the messenger, who tells them he's returned to England. The chorus urges Becket to flee to France while the priests prepare. Becket tells the priests to be kind to the chorus, which knows more than them.

         Becket enters the scene and is immediately confronted by four "tempters" who attempt to tempt him into adopting  balance between religious power as Archbishop and with political power.   

• Becket rejects the first tempter, saying he's offering the temptation 20 years   too late. 
• The second tempter tells Becket he could do more good in the world with political power if he submits to the king. Becket rejects this claim, saying earthly power without spiritual authority is a delay of evil and a creeping sickness.  
• The third tempter convinces Becket to side with the bishops against the king to increase Rome's power and glory. Becket is insulted.   
• Becket didn't expect a fourth tempter. The fourth tempter can see Becket's thoughts, fears, and future events. He offers Becket the glory and power of sainthood and addresses his fear that it won't last. Becket is shocked to learn he was motivated by selfishness and pride.  

The Interlude begins by Becket preaches a farewell sermon to his congregation in which he discusses salvation and suffering and says no martyr becomes a saint without God's will. This section is prose, unlike most of the play.
Part 2 begins with the entry of Four knights enter who demand to speak to Becket, claiming to be on the king's order. When priests offer hospitality, they threaten. Becket arrives and the knights accuse him of betraying the king and demand he recant his excommunications. If he doesn't, they'll kill him.

        The priests try to drag Becket to safety, but he pauses to reassure the chorus and say he's ready to accept whatever comes as a servant of God and a believer in Christ's sacrifice. The knights close in when he opens the door. As he's killed, the chorus wails that a blood curtain has defiled the world.
At the end, the knights directly address the audience and justify their actions, saying they abhor the necessary violence of their act but that no one can say they gained anything. They say they were disinterested, loyal to the king, and acting for a strong state, which the audience agrees with. The fourth knight says they were provoked and Becket's death was a suicide. They tell the crowd to disperse and behave.

        Priests eulogise Becket and declare Canterbury a saint. The chorus apologises to God for fearing earthly injustice more than God's power and love. They recognise their impact on the world. They ask God and Becket for forgiveness.

 

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